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Arts & Communication Reconciled futures

art projects. The candidate had to be someone with the
technical skills to follow-up with the city’s fabrication team
and installers during the production process. The budget
also included art supplies for the students, including a
portfolio to hold their work, and books about Northwest
Coast art (Figure 1). There were also artist fees for the daily
workshops, catered lunches, transit fares for youth, and
t-shirts to commemorate the project. Each student received
a payment at the end of the week for their participation
and in recognition of their design contributions. Green
Infrastructure retained some funds for the fabrication work
and a community celebration (the latter was unfortunately
prevented by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic).
The proposed project was well received by the green
infrastructure team, but there were time constraints related Figure 1. Art supplies and books were selected by Gitxsan artist Karen
to the budget that required MOV to implement this camp Francis to teach the basics of Northwest Coast design. Copyright (c) 2019.
sooner than expected. Originally conceived as a summer Reprinted with permission of Sharon Fortney.
opportunity, a notice of intent to contract was sent out by the
city on November 29, 2018, with a closing date of December
13, 2018. Once the contract was awarded, the MOV had to
implement the camp for Spring Break of March 2019. This
is a very short timeline for the recruitment of Indigenous
youth and to craft a culturally appropriate program.

Several circumstances aligned to make this all possible.
At that time, Gitxsan artist Karen Francis was employed
at the MOV as part of the visitor services team, and when
approached, expressed interest in leading the planned
program. She had prior experience teaching art at a local
native college and was able to design appropriate lessons.
Furthermore, opportunely, my friend Splash (Tawx’sin
Yexwulla/Aaron Nelson Moody), a fine Arts instructor
at snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ (Langara College), decided to visit the
collections with a group of emerging Salish artists with
whom he had been working. Several of these artists were
later approached to run afternoon workshops for the camp.
Recruitment for the spring break camp began early in
2019 (Figure 2). Recruitment posters from other programs,
such as the UBC Museum of Anthropology’s Native Youth Figure 2. Social Media Ad for Reconciled Futures featuring artwork by
Haida Artist Marcel Russ. Copyright (c) 2019. Reprinted with permission
Program (NYP) and the YVR Art Foundation’s Aspiring of the Museum of Vancouver.
Artist Awards, were reviewed as part of our project
design. It was noted by the MOV staff that the process for The newsletters of the MST communities, and members
NYP required not only the submission of a resume with of their education teams, were sent the poster for the camp.
references but also two written assignments. However, that Posters were also circulated to other local high schools and
program had a longer duration – 2 months rather than community spaces. Indigenous colleagues were sent the
1 week and an age range of 15 – 18. To make the MOV
application more accessible for younger teens, we decided posting, and it was circulated through social media. The
to simplify the application. The poster requested they send Curator of Indigenous Collections and Engagement and
a letter of interest identifying who they were and why they Art Instructor Karen Francis both followed up with their
wanted to participate. The selection was later made by the networks to ensure that there would be enough youth
Art instructor/Camp leader Karen Francis, and myself, the to fill the camp. In the end, we had 13 applicants for the
Curator of Indigenous Collections and Engagement. eight positions. A decision was made to accept nine of the

Volume 2 Issue 3 (2024) 4 doi: 10.36922/ac.2488